


Surviving Happy Ever After

by wanderingquill



Series: Rose Among The Thorns [3]
Category: Outlast (Video Games)
Genre: BDSM, Domestic Fluff, Kink, M/M, Mpreg, OCs - Freeform, Omegaverse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-29
Updated: 2018-11-24
Packaged: 2019-07-04 08:20:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15837417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wanderingquill/pseuds/wanderingquill
Summary: A series of oneshots, after the demise of the bulk of Murkoff's executives have been put away and the corporation cut to pieces and sold off to pay for the victim's treatment among the hundreds of lawsuits against the titan of industry.





	1. The Groom's Vest Problem

“Eddie I’m back from the store. I got your favorites. They even had those Knoll pasta sides you liked. I got like ten for ten dollars.” Waylon shouted as he brought in the light bag of groceries he picked up on the way back from a two-day work trip. He left the bags on the front table as he shook off the dripping raincoat off his shoulders.

     The lack of response worried Waylon. Most of the time, Eddie worked on the first floor with his sewing creations or sketching. And if he was on the first floor when Waylon came home from a trip or a list of errands, he’d race to welcome him home. The pregnancy made it harder for Eddie to race anywhere, but he still yelled out “Welcome home Darling!” whenever Waylon came home. As corny and cliche as it was, it made Waylon’s heart flutter to hear Eddie so happy to see him.

“Eddie? Eddie?”

Eddie always leaves a note in the front hall when he left the house. And Eddie knows he’s not supposed to leave without him because he can’t take his schizophrenia meds when pregnant. He needs Waylon to be his rock if the hallucinations start in public. Waylon calmly paced further into the house, hoping to find Eddie napping somewhere or listening to his ipod as he knitted.

       Waylon quickly looked through the first floor of the house, the tv room, the kitchen, the living room, the dining room, the small storage room slash walkin pantry.  He even checked the back porch despite the cold damp weather to see if Eddie was bringing in the smaller cushions to keep them dry. Still no Eddie. He even paced back towards the front of the house back towards Eddie’s personal office slash sewing room near the foyer. He skipped that room at first because if Eddie was in there, he would have heard Waylon unlock the door even with headphones on.

      The room was in disarray, more so than usual. Eddie’s workplace had a specific meticulous structure keeping it a state of organized chaos that Waylon has learned over the years. This, this was just mayhem. The large sketchpad papers on the easel had been ripped out haphazardly and thrown. Various clothes were scattered across the ground, ripped to shreds or stepped on. The large cabinet of drawers was opened and left in various levels of “closed” with supplies and tools out of their place or preventing it from closing at all. Even pincushions were left on the ground, stepped on after being forgotten. Having sewing needles stab into the soft shaggy carpeting like knives into the hide of an animal.

         To anyone else, it’d look like a normal messy room of an artisan. To Waylon, it was evidence of a very erratic Omegas slow descent into a very frazzled state. Waylon’s blood ran frost cold when he caught a glint of a familiar pale white and blue in the corner of his eye as he paced the room. He walked toward the easel and found Eddie’s phone in the cupholder meant for pencils. The phone was still on and protected by the art nouveau flower case they picked out together. Eddie picked the snowdrop flower specifically because his mother had liked the symbolism of the optimistic flower. After the 7th month into the pregnancy, Eddie promised to always try and keep his phone on his person in case he started feeling contractions when Waylon was out. Eddie wouldn’t leave the house unless it was a dire situation. And he wouldn’t leave his cellphone behind unless his symptoms were affecting his short-term memory again.

      Waylon tried to force himself to take calming breaths as he raced up the stairs two at a time. He had to stay calm and think. There was no evidence of heavier things thrown or Eddie nesting in his usual places when his hallucinations popped up and he feared they would hurt the baby.  Waylon had checked Eddie’s phone and finding no new messages or phone calls in or out since they talked at lunch. There wasn’t a sign of a break in or any kind of conflict in the rest of the house. Waylon took a little solace in that at least he found no blood or birth fluid. As far as evidence was, his mate and unborn child were okay. Waylon told himself Eddie could be cleaning the attic or fixing the guest rooms, but even the voice of reason in Waylon’s head didn’t sound at all convinced. Waylon checked the spare bedrooms and checked to find the attic step ladder still turned up, sealing the attic shut. The only place left was the master bedroom.  Waylon’s heart started to beat a little more erratically as he walked towards his last chance of finding his husband. Getting closer he heard the distressed sniffling sobs of his Omegean mate.

“Eddie!” Waylon raced to the partially opened door to their bedroom.

       Eddie stood near the edge of the bed, in front of their full-length mirror. His shirt and vest unbuttoned and his muscles and pregnancy bump pushing the cloth tight at the seams. His eyes were red and puffy as he tried relentlessly to force the front to button up.

Waylon, while happy to know Eddie was safe. Went to full alpha mode seeing Eddie look to be in the bad swing of emotions. He slowly approached Eddie softly and asked.

“Sweetheart, Eddie, what’s wrong?”

“I’m too fat for my wedding vest!”’

“Sweetheart, you’re having our baby. You’re not fat.”

“Yes, I am. I’m a cow. I’m a tubby cow and I’m still going to be a tubby cow when the baby comes and you’ll be disgusted with my fat vulgar parts!” Eddie’s voice cracked at the high pitch. A new string of tears started to drip down his face.

Waylon sat down on their soft bed and patted his knee.

“Come here.”

“Why?” Eddie asked as he tried to wipe away the snot and tears with his handkerchief.

“Sweetheart, humor me, please. Just come here and sit.”

Eddie reluctantly sat on the edge of the bed and let Waylon pull his legs across his lap.

“Eddie, who am I?”

“Darling please, this is silly.”

“Eddie, who am I?”

“Waylon Park my alpha and husband.”

     “Good, now, follow my hand.” Waylon one hand to support Eddie’s upper back, and the other to trace the curve of Eddie’s pregnancy bulge. The baby started to shift against Waylon’s hand. Eddie’s face melted into a warm smile feeling their baby kick and play. Eddie covered Waylon’s hand with his as they both felt their little miracle move underneath. Their child was as impatient to be born as they were to meet them.

     “Now, look at our hands' Sweetheart.” Eddie looked down at the hand the baby was kicking against. Their matching gold wedding rings glinted in the soft afternoon sunlight pouring through the french windows. The way they shined reminded Eddie of their wedding day. When he was pacing in a very sunny room before the ceremony. He had to rehearse his vows when all he wanted to do was see Waylon but couldn’t because of that stupid tradition of not seeing each other the day before the wedding. He was so happy to see Waylon at the end of the aisle that day, he barely remembers the ceremony. He just remembers trying not to cry too much as he stood across from Waylon who was doing the same. His chest felt lighter from just remembering how happy he was to declare Waylon his husband.

      “Now, stay calm,” Waylon said as he used his hand supporting Eddie’s back to inch up towards Eddie’s neck. Latching on top of the bonding bite at the junction of Eddie’s neck and shoulder. Eddie’s entire body lost almost all tension as he felt the hard pressure against the sensitive scar tissue. Eddie’s heart skipped a beat as he remembered the heat and urgency he felt when they claimed each other on their wedding night. Matching rings, matching bond bite marks that bound their souls as well as their futures together. He had felt like an animal after the bond formed. He felt what Waylon had felt towards him and vice versa. They could not hold back anything. They spent most of the honeymoon finding new ways to ravish each other. They still try new things on occasion. It is always fun. Especially when his Darling Waylon renews the bite on occasion to drive Eddie wild again.

     The heavy ache of doubt had faded away at this point. Eddie leaned and snuggled his face against Waylon’s hair. The soothing mixture of his alpha’s natural scent and favored shampoo only grounding him further towards complete calm.

“Now, what did you just see, and feel?”

“Our baby kicking, our wedding rings, and my Alpha pressing my Bond mark.”

“Good. Now, what do they all have in common?”

Eddie turned shy and spoke softly. “.... That you love me and want to spend our lives together.”

“I do.” Waylon lifted Eddie’s ring hand to kiss it. “I do, for better and for worse. And now pregnant and round.”

Eddie tried not to sniffle as his stomach fluttered feeling Waylon look him in the eyes.

“You won’t leave me even if I’m not the Adonis you married?”

“Never. And the end game is growing old and fat together anyway. I’m kidding, you’re not fat. But I promise to help you “work off” the baby weight later if we have the time or energy after our kid is born.”

Eddie’s eyes started to tear up for a completely different reason. He hugged Waylon as he started to cry.

“Darling, I don’t deserve you and you don’t deserve my regular hysteria.”

Waylon rubbed his hand along Eddie’s back to help him calm down again.

“It’s just the hormones Sweetheart. Want me to go make you dinner and ice cream so we can snuggle and watch some “Yes to the Dress”?”

“Waylon, Darling, I love you so much.”

“I love too, Eddie.”


	2. Chains and Collars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waylon is being secretive about his anniversary gift and Eddie's at a loss for what to get his Darling for their third wedding anniversary. With a little help from google, both are going to be very surprised when they get the others gift this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This series is written as random instances of their life after the demise of Murkoff. So each chapter will be out of order. Sorry for the confusion. But I just come up with the oneshots and it's easier for me to write them out of order.

* * *

 

    To be safe, Eddie made sure to “google” how to check browser history from his phone before figuring out how to distract Waylon. It took longer to figure out the process of looking up browser history then it did to think up a plan to deal with Waylon and act on it. Waylon’s sleep schedule had been a tad erratic due to him helping a indie game company fine tune some coding. The coding was a absolute mess due to let’s say…disagreements with Waylon’s predecessor. He thought he was God’s gift to coding and the female sex. But anyone who had the displeasure to work with him, knew him to be a cruel gag gift at best. So there was no tears shed when he was sacked. But there was figurative bloodshed as he messed with his bad coding with the intent of tanking the project for the pink slip notice. If he was competent enough to actually intentionally ruin the project, there might have been a problem. But with someone of Waylon’s skill set it was far from impossible. It’d be aggravating and time consuming, but well within the realm of likely to be saved. The video game company in question were more than willingly to pay Waylon a larger wage and work from home if it meant he could save their livelihoods. And well Waylon liked the game he was fixing, and enjoyed feeling useful in regards to coding again. The only monkey wrench in the arrangement was his employers worked in a completely different time zone. So their 9 AM workday to contact Waylon with status updates would be Waylon’s 5 PM. So Waylon’s sleep schedule became much more erratic because he’d wake up at 2 PM and go to bed around 4 AM after a couple hours of leisure time after clocking out.  
Occasionally, Eddie would stay up and watch movies with him after he finishes work but can’t sleep without the caffeine wearing off first. And well, Eddie knew Waylon and their shared sleep patterns well enough to know EXACTLY how to get Waylon off his computer and go to bed without realizing he hadn’t turned off his systems.

          It’d be a simple but effective plan. Wait until Waylon finished his work early, which would be more likely if Eddie gave him his favorite brand of coffee at like 9 PM. Wait until Waylon’s caffeine high dropped as he messes around online for a couple hours. Next, around 1 AM, make Duncan Hines brownies, his favorite snack and bring it to the tv room. The smell alone will lure him from his lair and into the kitchen and tv room. Place his heated blanket fresh out of the dryer on the couch in the TV room, next to the brownie plate. And then all Eddie needed to do then was put in a a good movie, sit back and wait. Deciding put on the movie “To Woo Fong, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar” at the last minute. It was some cult classic movie Miles badgered them to watch. Saying it was a requirement for all queer men to watch and adore at some point in their lifetimes. He said the same thing about the movie “The Bird Cage” and that became one of Eddie’s favorite movies. The movie was old and out of production. They found their VHS copy by chance at a second hand store. The cover was so faded only the ladies and the title were visible. But the tape itself looked fine and the ladies on front looked particularly glamorous so Eddie bought it on impulse.  
The entire plan to distract Waylon literally took seventy minutes to be carried through, tops. And it not only got Waylon off the computer, but out of commission dead asleep for the next four hours minimum in a blanket burrito. And thirty minutes of that was making the brownies and , thirty to start into the first scene of the movie.

  
          But in any case, Eddie enjoyed the movie. It was easy to forget the plan while watching such vivid stories of humanity, glamor, and witty one liners portrayed in the Drag Queen beauty pageant in the first scene. That is, until a brownie crumb and blanket covered Waylon started to loudly snore against Eddie’s shoulder.  
       Eddie quietly paused the movie and slowly extracted himself from Waylon’s side snuggling. Making sure to wrap Waylon tight in his blanket burrito so he didn’t fall off the couch in his sleep.  
Eddie shuffled back to Waylon’s at home office.. It was a nest of blankets, energy drinks, wires, and screens. Thankfully, Waylon still believed in the old fashioned password code for his electronics and not some retinal scan Eddie has heard about in passing.  
     “Okay, so Darling said his emergency password was his full Korean name and my birthday. I hope Mrs.Park seniors Korean lessons will pay off.” Eddie muttered to himself as he carefully typed one letter at a time with his index fingers. Eddie flinched when what Waylon referred to as the “loading beach ball of death” appeared on the screen. He held his breath as he internally panicked.  
     “Did I misspell the Korean? I don’t think I did. Merde. Did I remember to turn off caps lock before continuing?”  
Thankfully the computer finally loaded and Eddie lets out a sigh of relief as the computer dinged to life. And let me check the browser history.

“Leather shops? Furniture restoration? I don’t recall finding any antiques with leather furnishing and Waylon doesn’t go antiquing without me. What is my Darling planning?” He mumbled to himself as he wrote down the google search terms in his tiny notepad.  
      Eddie clicked on the last image search. Scrolling down the selection of leather collars, set a light bulb of recognition on in Eddie’s mind. He’s seen leather straps like that before. And quite recently actually. The Drag Queen of the year scene from the movie he just watched. The dark leather and white silver chain images that Waylon looked up looked a lot like the leatherwork on the man who handed the envelope to the previous Drag Pageant winner and presenter, Rachel Tension. Eddie only remembered the oddly dressed man because Ms.Tension made a joke about it. Something about the chains accenting the muscle man’s naked chest and snow tires.  
       “What is Waylon planning? Are we going to a drag show or a gay bar with a weird dress code for our anniversary? Is it a costume or like the butch equivalent to a Drag Queens makeup?”  
Eddie not knowing the point of chains and leather straps , just went to google for answers. Because his other source for Pop culture was Miles. And this could lead down a aggravating rabbit hole of confusion and sex jokes. Afraid of what could come up, he made sure to switch to site searches instead of images.  
      “Gay man purpose for leather straps” And he clicked on a reddit question that came up on the first page of results. The poster on the Reddit link more or less asked the same question Eddie was at the moment. The commenters were surprisingly helpful in explaining the purpose of leather strap clothing despite the Reddit site being infamous for trolls and pranksters.

    The kind explanations made sense, in a abstract sort of way. So Eddie jotted down a couple notes of the reasoning to review later. Most of his notes were one worded explanations that explained the subject to him but wouldn’t make sense to Waylon if he found his new notebook.(Aesthetic/desire/attraction/queer history imagery/ling.)  
       

        And arming himself with a rough understanding of what the leather work Waylon looked up might be for. Eddie felt brave enough to look up the google images for his search phrase.  
And when the image page loaded, Eddie blushed so scorching hot you could fry an egg on his red face. The image page had a variety of styles for similar concepts. And a lot of the diverse designs didn’t just cover the upper body’s of the male models. The purpose of the many zippers, chains, and metal rings became less ‘obscure’ even in the PG search parameters Eddie set up.

“Oh. So that’s what he’s planning. My little minx wanted to keep it a secret just to get the best “rise” out of me when he shows me what my gift is for.”  
Eddie’s own unintended word play went over his head as he fiddled with the search engine to find a couple key terms for the harness and collar styles he found appealing.  
He thought he was working quickly, but his stomach started to protest loudly for dinner. When he looked away from the screen, it was pitch black outside and it was well past their normal dinner time.  
He had found the spark he needed to find a present for Waylon. He looked up his last search, of a youtube tutorial of how to delete browser history before doing so himself and logging off. He was too jumpy and hungry to cook their normal fare so he just ordered some of Waylon’s favorite take-out. From the real Korean BBQ they found on GrubHubs months before. Because Waylon was bound to rise from his blanket burrito sooner rather than later. Even he can’t survive half work day and full night of sleep on just brownies alone.

* * *

  
A couple days later, Waylon drank a two full pots of coffee to get up early enough for his  
Appointment to pick up Eddie’s gift. On the way, he stopped for gas to refill the tank.Might as well get a couple errands done. As the gas meter slowly rose, he texted Chris to give him a heads up on the gift arrival.

* * *

  
         Soon enough the anniversary day had arrived. Oddly enough , Waylon was the first to rise. The game was finally on track in terms of coding and development. So Waylon was able to take some time off for his anniversary weekend.Shuffling to get his two cup size of coffee and get back to bed to enjoy it. He texted Chris before he settled back in his spot on the bed.  
And as Waylon put down his coffee and phone back into his charger, he heard Eddie groan. Turning he found a sleepy eyed Eddie stretching closer to his side of the bed. Still fully asleep but missing the closeness of their bodies. Waylon lifted the blankets and slid back underneath the duvets to be with his adorable husband. Eddie the tease, went to bed wearing only in his tight boy shorts last night. Waylon feeling particularly “affectionate”, woke up his Sweetheart with a slow happy wake up call.  
They spent the morning lazily alternating between soft kisses and in a close embrace. Barely opening their eyes to the light pouring in the window shutters. Just remembering and relearning every inch of one another by touch and sound.  
After what felt didn’t last nearly as long as it was, they were both distracted from a intimate round of soft kisses by the roaring of their stomachs.  
“I think we have to get up sooner rather than later Darling.”  
“Hmmm? Oh, I already ordered food. It should be here soon.”  
“What? You shouldn’t have, I would have made us breakfast.”Eddie murmured as he nuzzled Waylon’s neck.  
“You made the amazing brunch last year. I wanted to do something this time around.  
The delivery guy should be here any minute.”  
And then the loud ring of their front doorbell echoed through their home.  
“And there he is! Be right back!” Waylon unwillingly eased himself out of Eddie’s arms to put on his sweatpants and his old robe nearby.  
“You are gonna love this.” Waylon said with glee as he hopped a little trying to force his legs into his rumpled sweatpants.  
“I’m sure I will”  
As Waylon nearly rushed to the door Eddie spoke up.  
“Darling?” He said as he sat up to lean on his arms.  
“What?”  
“Happy Anniversary.” Eddie softly said. Eddie, at that moment looked like a dream. . His ungelled hair wild and falling to one side. His smile and face was draped in the warm sunlight pouring in. His eyes sparkling as they reflected the happiness he felt. Waylon’s heart stuttered as he looked back at his Omega. He dashed back and doubled around towards Eddie’s side of the bed to lean in to kiss his husband.  
 “Happy Anniversary Eddie. I love you.”  
  “Love you too Waylon.”  
     Waylon leaned down for another kiss, but the front door rang again. The delivery guy then started to frantically push the door bell. Waylon grimaced as the soft moment with his Sweetheart was unsalvageable.  
“Go, be free. Get the door before the deliverer eggs our door.”  
“Right. Be right back.” Waylon rushed out to get the front door and stop the blaring ringing.

      Arriving at the door , he learned just how big the “Brunch Feast” package he ordered from the Brunch place actually was. There were three delivery guys with big bags were waiting outside on their doorstep in the chilling snowfall. Waylon rushed to guide them to the kitchen to unload the food onto all the counters.  
He gave them a tip just so they’d rush and he could get them out the door. He had to figure out what was in each of the dozens food containers so he could bring Eddie his favorite food in bed.  
This brunch place did not mess around. When they meant “Feast” they meant every aspect of the word. There was everything, from American bacon to bagels, to crepes, to a wide range of fruit, to different types of cooked eggs, to french toast, to chicken and waffles. It was everything you’d find at a five star brunch buffet, only short a endless mimosa dispenser and a drunk lush circling around it. But Waylon was caffeinated and determined. Making a system of placing as he opened the containers and sorting them into food groups on the huge granite counters around their kitchen.  
“Darling?” Eddie asked softly as he brought Waylon’s empty coffee mugs back to the kitchen.  
Waylon had already set up the breakfast in bed antique tray . And was mid sorting the unpacked French toast onto Eddie's plate.  
“Noooooo! I wanted to bring you your breakfast in bed.” Waylon whined as Eddie saw the dozens of food containers covering their granite countertops.  
“You already got the food. That's more than enough. We can just eat and snuggling in the living room.” Eddie started making Waylon a mix and match plate of his favorite fruit and a Bacon Egg & cheese on a toasted bagel. They’ve been together long enough to know the other’s ideal plate for any meal.  
“Fine. We can double back for seconds too, or thirds or tenths. Really. I just got the brunch buffet special. I didn’t think they’d actually deliver a literal buffet.” Waylon explained as he poured the fancy syrup onto Eddie’s heart shaped french toast and strawberries.  
“It’s fine. We have enough fridge space to store at least most of it. And anything immediate we can drop off at Chris’s.”  
“Voila, your breakfast Sweetheart” Waylon said with flair as syrup oozed off the corner of the plate and onto the tray.  
“And here’s yours Darling. No, let’s go eat on the comfy couch.” Eddie said as he guided Waylon towards the tv room. Waylon staggered next to him , as he carried the tray of food for himself.

     As they took their seats next to each other. Eddie was still a bit shy and uncomfortable with eye contact. So most of the time , they sat in the Brazilian style of sitting side by side to each other when relaxing.  
Waylon chirped as he set down the loaded trays on the tv stands Miles bought them as a joke.  
“I don’t think we could even fit on the bed if we put all this on it first.”  
“We’d have to get the sheets drycleaned to get all the crumbs and maple syrup out anyway.” Eddie said as he took a delicious bite of the french toast. Eating quickly before the syrup would make the food sodden paste.  
“ Yes um, probably not. Unless um other fluids got mixed in after, then it’d be beyond even a dry cleaning salvaging.” Eddie coughed before swallowing his first bite. His rising body temperature slowly turned his skin into a soft shade of pink.  
“Eddie, you okay?” Waylon asked as he patted Eddie’s back , as the large man coughed into his hand and leaned over the short table top.  
He was perfectly okay, but he just realized the adventurous thing he got for them both was stashed under the couch they were sitting on. And that it was going to lead to a very intense sex talk and likely experimentation on previously described bed sheets.  
“Yes , yes. I’m fine Waylon. Just air went down the wrong pipe. I’m fine.”  
“You sure?” Waylon asked again as he turned toward Eddie.  
“I’m fine Darling. It’s nothing. Let’s enjoy this food while it’s still hot.”  
Waylon relented and said. “You don’t need to tell me twice.”  
The duo ate their food at a leisurely pace. Eddie had to focus a little more, due to being aware of Waylon’s touch and the gifts underneath their feet. Waylon could tell Eddie was stewing on something. He knew better to push the subject until Eddie was comfortable enough to bring it up himself. So it was a quiet breakfast for the both of them. Except maybe to offer the other a chance to try the strawberries or the bacon from their plate. And talk about the options to get on their second round of plates.  
Eventually they ate their full and laid back into the couch.  
“I can’t eat another bite Darling. This was delicious!”  
“I could sleep for a year I’m so full.”

        Waylon’s watch alarm then went off in a startling buzzing sound. He left it in his robe pocket the night before and forgot about it.  
“Fuck. My Alarm just scared the hell out of me.” Waylon cursed as he went to turn off his alarm.  
“I should show you your gift sooner rather than later. Raincheck on the dishes until after?”  
“Of course Darling, but let me give you your present first. I think you’ll find it will be a surprise.”  
Waylon went and brought the serving trays back into the kitchen as Eddie put away the tables. By the time Waylon came back , Eddie had already pulled out the large flat ribbon bowed box from underneath the couch. The although only a hand width tall, the large box stuck out well past Eddie’s knee caps when placed on his lap.  
“Happy Anniversary Darling!”  
“Happy Anniversary Sweetheart.” Waylon chirped as he sat next down to his omega.  
“I hope I got the right kind.” Eddie murmured as Waylon carefully unwrapped his gift. Eddie’s gift wrapping skills matched Martha Stewart. You had to unwrap it carefully , or you feel like you just destroyed a art installation.  
After removing the beautiful metallic paper, Waylon opened the box and started to remove scraps of decorative paper.  
Removing the paper revealed a set of leather collars and what looked to be a series of white silver metal rings attached to fine belts of leather. Lifting one wide leather collar with a attach hook on the front, to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. It took Waylon several moments to process what he was seeing. Waylon traced the metal button studs of one of the harnesses after processing what it was. Now it was Waylon’s turn to choke on air. He sat there wide eyed and fish mouthed as Eddie practically shook with smug glee next to him.  
“Speechless Darling?”  
“Uh. Kinda? I just, I just,”  
Waylon was at a lost for words. How did Eddie even learn about BDSM in general? Might as hell track down kink gear. Waylon pressed his tongue to the roof of his mouth to try and fight the cotton dryness. When did he get so cottonmouth? Waylon then continued.  
“I just didn’t know you’d wanted to try this stuff.”  
“Your such a liar you minx. I saw your leather google searches Darling. It didn’t take much to put two and two together after seeing the first part of the movie “To woo Fong”. Eddie explained as he puffed up all smug about his sneaky skills.  
“Oh my god.”  
“Do you not like it?”  
‘No, these are really well made and I think it’d be worth trying out this ...leather stuff with you. But I didn’t get you this ..sort of thing.”  
“Then why the leather searches?” Eddie asked as he tried to remember any leather stuff that didn’t look like the BDSM stuff.”  
“You are going to be really surprised by your gift this year.”  
And as if on cue, a loud crash bang was heard coming from the other side of the house.  
“And speak of the devil, there’s your gift now.” Waylon sheepishly said. 

 

He then guided Eddie to the laundry room near the back of the house.  
Standing in front of the door Waylon slowly opened the mud room door saying “Ta da? Happy Anniversary!” Which revealed a tall child fence in place at the foot of the doorway. Peering into the small sunlight laundry room ,revealed everything was covered in unfolded laundry. As something had upturned the large woven laundry basket from the top of the washing machines. After a moment, the upturned basket of the remaining clothes was MOVING and the sides of the basket hit the dryer like a Jamaican drum.  
Eddie carefully walks over the fence to remove the basket from the clothing pile. And at first , the only thing revealed looked like a bigger bunch of clothes. But then a long snout poked its way out from under a sweater. Revealing the faded shade fur of a wolfhound puppy mutt struggling to be free from the pile.  
The giant puppy now finally able to see again, blinking as it adjusted to the light. Shaking excitedly in joy as he spots Eddie and tries to get his attention. The puppy being dragged down by the bulk of the clothing from jumping to Eddie’s hip level. The attempts to do so looked like a awkward attempt of a equestrian rider doing a trick. So the creature settled to convey it’s desire for friendship by shaking and licking Eddie’s hands.  
Eddie crumbled from the sight of these awkward creature trying to cuddle him. He kneeled down far enough for the dog to start licking him from his neck to jawline.  
“Who is this clumsy angel?”  
“Warden. I was going to get you a puppy puppy but I saw him at the shelter.  
His family returned him because they didn’t think he’d get so big and they didn’t have the space. He’s still a puppy tho, so I had to get him a custom collar to fit his narrow head and still fit him later.”  
“He’s perfect Darling. And so gentle!” Eddie explained as the dog tried to nestle against his crouching body and kiss his face.  
“Whose a good pupper? Whose a good boofer!” Eddie baby talked as he scratched the dogs head and back after pushing the dog far enough to stop the barrage of kisses. The puppy’s tail started to wag so hard his entire body shook from all the excitement.  
Waylon giggled because he's never heard Eddie use internet slang perfectly and it’s for baby talking a dog  
“He’s not the only gift! There should be another creature in here for us.”  
Eddie looked around and saw a sock that looked to be sentient enough to be inching away towards the gate.  
Picking it up, and unfurling the sock revealed the fluffiest and weirdest looking kitten Eddie had ever seen. It was almost completely black , except for a white patch on his front paws and under his neck. But what was most apparent and eye catching was it’s flat face which was only exemplified by it’s unsettlingly large grey blue goldfish eyes. The creature looked like a defective bulging eye squeeze toy marketed to anxious people. The kitten was basically half the size of a hot dog and weighed next to nothing.  
The puppy barked as he saw the kitten and immediately sniffed and tried to lick it clean like a smaller puppy. The kitten screamed a indigent mew as he tried to wiggle out from the sock and away from Eddie and the dog.  
“o h, my god it’s so TINY” Eddie cheered as he lifted the cute creature close to his face and a little further away from the dog.  
“Yeah, he’s a runt and latched onto my leg when I went to pick up Warden. I am a weak man against the demands of a cute creature.”  
“I could say the same.” Eddie said as he lifted the kitten further from the now very determined puppy intent on cleaning them.  
Eddie continued “But here, hold this tiny beast. I think we need to keep them apart for a while. Until Warden here wears himself out from the excitement.”  
Eddie handed over the small kitten into his husbands hands. The kitten squirming frantically as he saw his chance to escape Eddie’s grip.  
“Come on Cecil, the dog’s not going to lick you anymore.” Waylon cooed as he scooped up the flailing cat into a baby holding position. So the cat couldn’t bite his fingers or feel nervous about falling. The cat mewed fiercely as Waylon helped it ease out of Eddie’s jogging sock.  
“Cecil?” Eddie asked as he started to give Warden a belly rub.  
“It means big pale eyes in Latin. This little guy was born with his eyes open and they thought he was blind. Luckily he's not but he’s very loud but weak and...unique looking so they didn't have much hope for him finding a home.”  
“It sounds like a aristocrats name. But I guess it fits for his bossy nature. ”  
“So…...I take it you want to keep both of them then?”  
“Yes Darling. Their cute as buttons and so sweet.”  
“Whew, I thought it was going to be hit or miss. I knew you said you always wanted a pet as boy but your sister was allergic to cats and your mother to dogs.”  
“Yes, they loved animals. But couldn’t be near any for anything more then a couple minutes before they’d break out in stress hives.”  
“Well, you got your first fur babies now.”  
“Yes, now, do we still have any ham or milk for these two from the brunch buffet?”  
“I think we do. I’ll bring some back. I think Warden should calm down a little before sprinting into the house.”  
“We’ll be here until then.” Eddie cheered as he continued to scratch Warden’s belly and tickle his paws.  
“Come on Cecil, let’s get you some water and ham too.” Waylon whispered as he carried the kitten close as he headed to the kitchen to get Warden’s food and leash.  
Waylon pondered if he should set a limit of how much stuff Eddie could get their new furry friends when they go to the pet store later.  
Eddie is frugal , but he tends to spoil everyone when he’s overjoyed. Eh, it’s their anniversary, let’s go nuts.  
Waylon’s ears turned pink as he passed by the tv room. Waylon stopped dead still as he looked down into the gift box. The dark collars hook ring reflecting the light like a mirror, demanding attention.  
Waylon was still trying to figure out how to feel about introducing stuff like this into their sex life. He stared at the gift as if it could explain everything about the subject.  
Quietly to himself, Waylon thought. “…...Eddie would look amazing in that red collar.”  
Ouch, Cecil apparently wasn’t willingly to let Waylon daydream much longer. He bit his thumb when Waylon drifted off staring at the collars. Waylon grabbed Cecil with his other hand, as he brought his paper cut thin kitten bite to his mouth. No blood, but it stung. Waylon tried to pull a stern face as he looked down at the cat in his other hand.  
“Meanie, No biting’ Waylon tried to lecture as he booped the kittens nose.  
He turned to walk to the kitchen.  
And just said “me and Eddie can discuss that another day.”


End file.
